Researchers have developed a mini autonomous blimp that can detect hands and faces.

It consists of a 3-D printed gondola frame and a mini camera attached to a balloon.

The researchers say that blimp could be useful when shopping at large stores, as it would be able to interact with humans and guide them to the correct aisle.

The researchers who made the mini blimp, based at the Georgia Institute of Technology, say that it could be useful to people when shopping at large stores, as the it would be able to interact with humans and guide them to the correct aisle

he researchers who made the device, based at the Georgia Institute of Technology, said that because the blimp can detect faces and hand gestures, it could allow people to direct the flyers with movements.

All the while, the machine gathers information about the operator, such as hesitant glares and eager smiles - with the researchers' goal to better understand how people interact with flying robots.

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'Roboticists and psychologists have learned many things about how humans relate to robots on the ground, but we haven’t created techniques to study how we react to flying machines,' says Dr Fumin Zhang, the Georgia Tech associate professor leading the blimp project.

'Flying a regular drone close to people presents a host of issues.

'But people are much more likely to approach and interact with a slow-moving blimp that looks like a toy.'

The mini blimp consists of a 3-D printed gondola frame and a mini camera attached to a balloon. The researchers who made it say that because the blimp can detect faces and hand gestures, it could allow people to direct the flyers with movements instead of remotes

The 3-D printed gondola attaches to either an 18- or 36-inch diameter balloon, where the smaller one can carry a payload of five-grams, while the larger one can carry 20 grams.

The blimps' circular shape makes them harder to steer with manual controllers, but allows them to turn and quickly change direction - unlike zeppelin-shaped blimps most commonly used by other researchers.

Dr Zhang has filed a request with Guinness World Records for the smallest autonomous blimp.

THE MINI BLIMP

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a mini autonomous blimp that can detect facial features and hand gestures.

It consists of a 3-D printed gondola frame and a mini camera attached to a balloon.

The researchers say that because the blimp can detect faces and hand gestures, it could allow people to direct the flyers with movements.

The blimps' circular shape makes them harder to steer with manual controllers, but allows them to turn and quickly change direction - unlike zeppelin-shaped blimps most commonly used by other researchers

All the while, the machine gathers information about the operator, such as hesitant glares and eager smiles - with the researchers' goal to better understand how people interact with flying robots.

The researchers said that blimp could be useful to humans when shopping at large stores, as the blimp would be able to interact with humans and guide them to the correct aisle.

He sees a future where blimps can play a role in people’s lives, but only if roboticists can determine what people want and how they’ll react to a flying companion bot.

'Imagine a blimp greeting you at the front of the hardware store, ready to offer assistance,' Dr Zhang said.

'People are good at reading people’s faces and sensing if they need help or not.

'Robots could do the same.

'And if you needed help, the blimp could ask, then lead you to the correct aisle, flying above the crowds and out of the way.'

On top of the mini blimp, the researchers also built a team of free-flying robots that don't collide or undercut each other.

A video of these drones shows five 'swarm copters' flying back and forth in formation, and change their behavior based on user commands.

The researchers made the drones in such a way to make sure that they avoid colliding into each other or flying underneath each other, because if a quadcopter cuts into the airstream of a higher flying quadcopter, the lower machine could fall out of the sky if it doesn't recover quickly.

'Ground robots have had built-in safety "bubbles" around them for a long time to avoid crashing,' said Dr Magnus Egerstedt, the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering professor who oversees the project.

'Our quadcopters must also include a cylindrical ‘do not touch’ area to avoid messing up the airflow for each other.

'They’re basically wearing virtual top hats,' he said.

The researchers say that as long as the drones avoid flying in the two-foot space below another, they can fly around without any problems, which is why they dart around each other at the same level rather than going slow.

'But people are much more likely to approach and interact with a slow-moving blimp that looks like a toy,' said Dr Fumin Zhang (pictured), the Georgia Tech associate professor leading the blimp project. He sees a future where blimps can play a role in people’s lives, but only if roboticists can determine what people want and how they’ll react to a flying companion bot

PhD student Li Wang figured our what size the 'top hat' on the drones should be by hovering a quadcopter in the air and directing other back and forth underneath it.

He saw that if a drone approached any closer than 0.6 of a meter (23.6 inches), the machines fell to the ground.

Wang used his findings to create algorithms that allow the drones to change formation midflight.

'We figured out the smallest amount of modifications a quadcopter must make to its planned path to achieve the new formation,' said Wang.

On top of the mini blimp, the researchers also built a team of free-flying robots that don't collide or undercut each other. A video of these drones shows five 'swarm copters' flying back and forth in formation, and change their behavior based on user commands

'Mathematically, that’s what a programmer wants — the smallest deviations from an original flight plan.'

The project is part of Dr Egerstedt and Wang’s broader research, which focuses on easily controlling and interacting with large teams of robots.

'Our skies will become more congested with autonomous machines, whether they’re used for deliveries, agriculture or search and rescue,' said Dr Egerstedt.

'It’s not possible for one person to control dozens or hundreds of robots at a time.

'That’s why we need machines to figure it out themselves.'

The researchers made drones with mini 'top hats' so that they avoid colliding into each other or flying underneath each other, because if a quadcopter cuts into the airstream of a higher flying quadcopter, the lower machine could fall out of the sky